Book Reviews  A practical guide to tasting, buying, and cooking with wine. With its help you'll proceed immediately onto what's really important: the taste of wines. It is not a book "that requires you to study and memorize . . . because people don't do that, most wine drinkers are lost when . . . looking for a wine label. So I lead you into tasting the differences among the major wines . . . with just enough information to get you started, for you to enjoy the great pleasure of wine." (From the Introduction) You'll enjoy more.
The Instant Wine Connoisseur Taste is a subjective experience. For this reason we can never be sure it's the same for me as it is for you. In fact, we can be sure that some tastes will give me more pleasure than they will for you, and vice versa. But because of our common taste experiences and common language we can communicate the similarities and differences, and thereby increase our understanding. To have the common experiences, however, requires that each of us have some memory bank of tastes to draw against. As a result of common experiences and communication, objective standards begin to mold the subjectivity of individual views. In other words, interaction with other people has an effect on our reaction to the subjective taste of wine, and can give it more meaning and enjoyment. Let me give you an example. Years ago certain producers in Greece stored their wines in barrels made from wood that gave the wine the taste of the resin in the wood. For many people the flavor of resin, which is a bit like turpentine, is very off-putting in a wine. But lots of Greece wine drinkers in that region got used to the flavor, and began to look forward to it. Over time, other people began to associate that flavor in wine with certain Greek foods. Today if a French wine tasted of resin it would be sent back. But retsina from Greece is sold all over the world, and many of us enjoy it with Greek food. The common experience of drinking wine with that particular flavor, eventually disseminated to others, created a new objective standard, or expectation in our memory bank, for the taste of resin with Greek food. Because taste is experiential, it is best if these "common experiences" arise by actually tasting the wine. No matter how many books we read, we can't learn to ride a bicycle or hit a golf drive will until we do it a few times. Even if I tell you that the taste of resin in wine goes well with Greek food, you're not going to like it unless you drink it a few times with Greek food - any more than you liked spinach the first time your mother told you it was good for you, or the first time a Japanese friend offered me some sea urchin sushi! In fact, to create such a memory bank requires not only that we have the experience, but that we focus our attention on it in special ways. If each of us walks past a shoe store every day for a year, but we don't notice it, the experience will not create a useful memory. Focus - or attention - is the first step. For this reason, when tasting wine, certain rituals have become customary. If you follow them your attention will be focused on the elements of taste, and those elements will begin to stick in your mind. A typical list of rules follow to taste, evaluate, and commit tastes to memory is as follows: Clear your palate and taste buds with a glass of water. Pour some wine into a bowl shaped glass, but fill the glass only one-third full, to leave enough room in the glass for the aroma of the wine to gather. The wine should be slightly cooler than room temperature. Some people like white wine as cool as 50 degrees. LOOK at the wine, preferably with a white background, and make a mental note of the color. Note both the color at the center, and the color at the edges. Older red wine tends to turn orange or brown at the edges. Certain white wines tend to pale at the edges. In addition to the color, note the clarity (or dullness or cloudiness) of the wine, to make sure it is well made and not spoiled. Finally, look at the viscosity, or body (from a visual point of view) to anticipate the feel of the liquid on the tongue. SMELL the wine, and verbalize your reaction. Verbalizing makes it easier to remember. Since our vocabulary doesn't really contain precise words for the odors of wine, it is necessary to use words that are analogous to the odors of the wine, such as floral, fruity, chocolate, earthy, etc. No wine tastes like chocolate, but there are flavors in some wines that are reminiscent of chocolate. The smell of wine is referred to professionally as its "NOSE", or "bouquet." Experts separate the various smells into two categories, one based on the smell of the grape, and the other based on the aging characteristics of the wine, such as oak, or the special bouquet derived from long aging in the bottle. SWIRL the wine and smell it again, since aeration sometimes affects the nose of the wine. SIP some of the wine into the mouth with air, then let it run over the tongue. Pay attention to the first tastes. The chemical contact of the wine on the various tongue sensors (sweet, sour, salty and bitter) combines with the nose to create a first taste. While it used to be thought that only the four primary tastes came from the tongue, recent scientific studies on the taste buds of eels (which apparently have very large taste buds, and are easier to study) have shown that the combinations of tastes in the mouth create a much greater variety of tastes than originally thought possible. This first taste of wine is sometimes referred to by professionals as its "entry." Swirl the wine in the mouth, then SWALLOW it. Note the change in taste from the first taste, and pay attention to the differences in the aftertaste, and the duration and strength of the aftertaste. Wine with more intense fruit and adequate acidity will have a stronger and longer aftertaste, enhancing the pleasure of the wine. The taste the wine leaves in the mouth after swallowing it (or spitting it out, in a a professional tasting) is what we refer to as the "aftertaste." The aftertaste is very important in tasting wines, food and drink in general. Think and TALK about the taste, paying attention to at least the following six elements: How intense is the flavor. Is the wine sweet, medium, or dry ("dry" refers to a lack of sweetness). How tart is the wine. Tartness is caused by acidity, and is very prized in some wines. Think of orange juice, and how good the tart taste is with the fruit flavor. How astringent is the wine; astringency is usually found in red wines known for long life, and is a result of tannin from grape skins. Young full bodied wines are often more tannic in the first few years, then the tannins soften. Coffee and tea have a tannic taste that many people like. Is the wine balanced? The most pleasing wines have a balance between the elements described above. The proportions, however, are a subjective matter in which preference varies widely among wine lovers. Finally, what is the impression of aftertaste, the taste that remains after swallowing. A pleasant lingering flavor is one of the pleasures of fine wines. So far we've been talking about the taste of wine. But all of this applies to food and drink in general. One of the benefits of learning to appreciate the taste of wine is that it enhances our appreciation of foods and beverages. For example, try the procedure above with orange juice. When I did it recently I discovered that the orange juice had a fruity, sweet nose, but with less orange to it than I had expected. The first taste was of orange, but the aftertaste was long and tart, with a flavor I connect more with pineapple than with orange. I was surprised at the acidity on the tongue, and how reminiscent it was of the aftertaste of a white wine that is high in acid. On another occasion I noticed how much sweeter this orange juice was than the last one I had drunk. If you begin to focus your attention on taste, you will be surprised how quickly you can begin to identify the major spices in foods, such as onion, thyme, cinnamon, basil, tarragon, etc. And practicing on foods is good practice for wine. The fact is that an appreciation of taste in general makes dining more pleasurable, and helps us to eat more slowly and to eat less, without any reduction of pleasure. |
